RESEARCH -Thomas Joshua Cooper

Thomas Joshua Cooper Research

Thomas Joshua Cooper is an American photographer that was born the 19th December 1946 in San Francisco, California. He is working and living in Glasgow, Scotland where he works in a school as an art teacher. He is known mostly for being a poet and then later developed as a contemporary landscape and wildlife photographer. The majority of Coopers work is in black and white and he uses the technique of long exposure images by using a slow shutter speed. By using this technique in her water photos it creates a smooth and blurred texture to the water as it moves. This is also because of the age of the technology
 Cooper uses 16kg of photography equipment including an 1898 Agfa field camera that is a large format camera and tripod He is a dedicated photographer that risks his life for an image. He would walk along high cliff edges and along the rocky waters shoreline. Struggling with his heavy kit and being unable to swim or see out of an eye. Thomas Joshua Cooper was inspired by the f/64 group who use the smallest aperture to create the style of a sharpest – focused image to create lots of detail in a photo. From this research I will use the same style that Cooper uses of a slow shutter speed to capture the movement in the water because I really liked the technique that is used by him. 

Thomas Joshua Cooper took this image. It was taken on the coastline and uses a slow shutter speed to capture the path the sea takes and the motion it has. It seems like the sea is rough and fierce as there is a lot of mist and blur. I like how the image is in black and white and the contrast between the blacks and the whites. The main detail in the image is located mainly in the centre of the photo where the rocks are submerged in the water. I like the randomness in the arrangement of the rocks; it becomes a focal point as it divides up the motion of the water and adds contrast and depth to the photo. This image creates an eerie and spooky feel making me wonder what could be in the water.
It was made using his old fashioned and older technology like his large format camera and tripod. He liked using the small aperture as it lets less light in and picks up the finer details of the image it also means the shutter can be open for a long time period to capture the movement in the water.



1946 Lanzarote, Canary Islands. This photo is different compared Cooper’s other images. Where he focuses more on cropped or zoomed in to create detail. This image again is created using the long exposure technique. However, I think the shutter is open for a shorter period of time as the other image I have analysed. I don’t like how dark this image seems. To me the image appears over exposed; it takes away the detail of the photo but makes the waters mist more eye catching where it hits the rocks and where it is moving faster. The photo gives off a negative feeling due to it being so dark. I like how the rock face is lighter and brighter then the rest of the image. I feel that having more of the rock face lighting would work better to show more detail where the rock has eroded by the sea.

 From my research I found out that I like the technique that Cooper uses of using a slow shutter speed in order to capture movement mainly in water. His use of neutral density filters of the lens in order to lengthen the time the shutter can be opened for without the image becoming over exposed. I will use this technique in order to create a similar effect. 

 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/thomas-joshua-cooper-4744
http://www.inglebygallery.com/artists/thomas-joshua-cooper/
https://www.artsy.net/artist/thomas-joshua-cooper
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2001/oct/02/artsfeatures
http://www.gsa.ac.uk/research/fine-art-profiles/c/cooper-thomas-joshua/

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